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Bikinis After 40: Good or Gross?

This photo of a model, presumably well under 40, from the Athleta catalog is sadly taped to my frig for inspiration/agitation.

To wear or not to wear?

That, my friends, is the question I struggle with lately at the start of each new swimsuit season.

Twenty years ago, wearing a two-piece wasn’t even an issue. In fact, it was 20 years ago this year that I put one on over Memorial Day weekend after having my second child that March. But back then I guess my body was a lot more elastic than the thing I’m working with today. I mean, I was 27 for godssakes and six weeks of running and laying off bagels was all I needed to bounce back into a bikini. I don’t think I even did sit ups.

I was too busy trying to keep two little babies alive to eat, probably.

Since then, I’ve managed to get it together every year to wear a two-piece to the beach or pool – although some years are definitely better than others. I even wore a Gap maternity bikini the summer I was about five months pregnant with my fourth child because I just couldn’t bear the feel of the hot, one-piece fabric on my middle. Made me sweaty.

As I approach some bathing suit-wearing this April, I am once again hopeful that I can pull off a two piece on the cusp of my 48th birthday (okay, it’s not until August but I can already feel it staring at me like my cat).

From the sounds of it, Heidi looks pretty good in her two-piece – she’s just finished training for a half-marathon and is, after all, just 40. I met her in real life last summer at Blogher and can vouch for her bikini-ready figure.

But when she pulled out her old purple two piece for an upcoming family trip, she questioned the “appropriateness” of it. “My conservative halter top with its full-coverage bottoms is a far cry from the string bikini thongs worn on Caribbean beaches, and yet I worry it is too revealing for the kiddie pool,” Heidi writes.

Anyway, the only person I saw wearing a one-piece bathing suit during my week in Greece last year was me, when I put on my black, strapless J. Crew number to sit around the hotel pool in Athens on my last day. I thought it appropriately glamorous for the setting and besides, I needed to cover my middle that had bloated over the week after eating countless “chips” (for us Americans, those would be French fries, like the thick “steak fry” variety that Ore Ida sells) that seem to accompany every meal served on tiny Grecian islands. Drinking a few Mythos beers every day probably didn’t help the situation.

Every woman, even the grandmas, wears a two-piece on holiday in Greece. All the Turks and Italians and whoever else seemed to be sunning themselves on the Aegean in August, where it is very hot, is wearing very little. In fact, some women even opted out of tops. Everyone seemed quite comfortable and, I’d like to add, I also don’t remember seeing any particularly overweight women either.

I am glad that in the end Heidi decided to pack her purple bikini. “I’ve earned the right to wear that swimsuit—and I’m going to try to wear it proudly without concern about judgment,” she writes. “After all, it’s only a matter of time before gravity wins and I won’t want to wear that swimsuit.”

As someone a few steps ahead, I say, “Right on, sister.” After all, Halle Berry is a day younger than me (don’t think that didn’t blow my f’ing mind when I discovered that tidbit).

We have crazy body issues in the United States. On the one hand, a lot of us could stand to lose a few pounds and on the other, those who are thin and fit fret that they’re not perfect. They struggle with the images they see in things like Sports Illustrated and that bullshit Victoria’s Secret catalog.

Mandy at Words By the Glass wrote a hilarious blog post this week about the swim suit styles being hawked this season by VS, which she called “The 2014 VS Swim Catalog: A Mom’s Buying Guide”: “I start looking through this magazine and I just keep wondering why I get this in the mail. I can’t wear this shit. I don’t even know anyone who can wear this shit…or WOULD wear this shit even if they had an ass like that. If you are showing your ass crack at the beach, what’s the point in wearing a t-shirt?”

At this stage of the game, I don’t care about being perfect. I’ve never eaten more healthfully — tons more vegetables and protein than the Doritos and pizza that used to be my nutritional staples – and exercise a few days a week.

I want to feel good about all those things when I put on my new sporty Athleta two-piece in April, even though I’m well past my 40th birthday. And hopefully I can get there in six weeks – barring car accidents, job or tooth loss, which tend to make me want to be bad and snuggle up with salty good-for-nothings.

But if all else fails, I’ll just get a spray tan. Because as an old friend once so wisely observed, “If you can’t tone it, tan it.”

I have a question and a comment, but depending on the answer to my question, the comment may be meaningless. Q = All this fuss over your quandary, is it because of men..or at least substantially because of men?? If the answer is yes, then (unless you have pock marks on your thighs or a belly overhanging the bottom 1 of 2 pieces, then the answer is unequivocally – 2 piece. Men are visual…Period. If you are trying to impress a specific man you are involved with, he wants to see his woman sexy, and if he is your real man, even though you may not look great, you do to him and that is what he wants to see. If you are just trying to look good for men in general, then you will with the 2 pieces, with the exception of my unless above.
BTW, based on your pics here, you will look great..go with the 2 piece!!
If the answer is No, then do what you want, because it should not really matter.

Honestly, I think women worry more about what other women think than what men think. Which brings up a very interesting point that I think I need to write about. So, no, I’m not trying to impress dudes or one dude in particular. It’s just a girl thing. Really great feedback … 🙂

Awwww, Suzy! Actually, I am really not doing the black turtleneck I’m wearing right now justice, so good luck to those new two-pieces I just bought. I agree with your assessment about all the BS we’re fed and supposed to be. Let’s just be okay with who we are. Right, Pussycat?

Ah, there’s the problem! It’s an impossible quest, trying to understand how ladies think. We’re crazy! My best advice is to nod your head and stay away from any female holding a sharp object 😉 Loved you male point of view on girls in bikinis and will keep in mind as swimsuit season approaches. Cheers!

I’m over 40 and sporting my 2 piece every summer! I’ve graduated from the skimpy ones I used to wear, but I LOVE my Athleta bikinis! They’re perfect with a little extra on the backside while I’m playing with my daughter or paddle boarding!

Amy, it is really not a quest, I am just an inquisitive and analytical man. After being married to a wack-job for, well quite some time, figured that one out and have enjoyed (somewhat) just casually gaining understanding of the female species. Still learning, and enjoying the journey. Guess it is a lot easier not being “tied down”

So last summer me and my friend Florence are at Sands with the kids. Florence was rocking her black bikini at age 42, looking pretty svelte. I am also age 42 but seem to like the athlete tankini top with shorts for my bottoms. Anyway, Florence asks me what do I think is wrong with her bikini top… it just doesn’t look right? It did look a little off but I wasn’t sure…I said maybe you put it in the dryer too many times?? Then Florence went up to her 14 year old daughter and asked her what did she think was wrong with her top? She looks at her and says “Mom your top is on upside down!!” She actually thought it was funny and was not horrified by what her mother was wearing! So we laughed, and actually had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard. But more power to you if you can wear a bikini at 42, and who cares if the top is upside down….she still looked good…Boom!

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All about Amy

Amy is a humorist who writes about things like divorce, parenting slippery teenagers, mid-life dating (or lack thereof) and her irrational fear of tuna fish. A former journalist and online news editor, her personal essays have been featured in Family Circle magazine and on Scary Mommy and Grown and Flown. She told her story on stage of finding the courage to jump off the cliff of indecision into divorce at the 2015 production of Listen to Your Mother North Jersey and sits on the advisory board of Project Write Now in Red Bank, NJ. Amy has also appeared as a panelist on “MomsEveryday,” a syndicated, half-hour program airing in 55 television markets. When she’s not developing social media strategies and creating online content for her clients, Amy can be found Googling her next travel adventure and trying not to eat bread.